Bishop Scott Mayer on the Primates’ Meeting

As you probably have heard, a majority of the 38 primates of the Anglican Communion meeting in Canterbury, England, asked that The Episcopal Church, for a period of three years, “no longer represent us on ecumenical and interfaith bodies, should not be appointed or elected to an internal standing committee and that while participating in the internal bodies of the Anglican Communion, they will not take part in decision making on any issues pertaining to doctrine or polity.”

What does this mean?

As things stand now, it appears to mean that two people who represent The Episcopal Church on ecumenical and interfaith bodies will attend but not take part in “decision making on any issues pertaining to doctrine or polity” for a period of three years.

According to the Episcopal News Service, those two people are the Rev. Katherine Grieb, who is a member of the Inter-Anglican Standing Committee on Unity, Faith and Order (IASCUFO), and the Rev. Amy E. Richter, who is listed as serving on the recently reconstituted Anglican-Reformed Dialogue. How the decision of the primates will affect their membership on these two committees remains unclear.

What is clear is that our membership in the Anglican Communion remains intact, and The Episcopal Church remains the Anglican presence in our part of North America. Moreover, this action will not affect the ongoing relational work of dioceses and congregations carrying out Gospel imperatives with our communion partners.

What is clear is that our membership in the Anglican Communion remains intact, and The Episcopal Church remains the Anglican presence in our part of North America. Moreover, this action will not affect the ongoing relational work of dioceses and congregations carrying out Gospel imperatives with our communion partners.

We certainly take seriously these consequences to the action of The Episcopal Church related to including all the baptized in all the sacraments. We can’t be surprised when actions we perceive as prophetic have costs. We remain convinced that it is possible to do the work of love as we see it while living in communion with those who disagree with our actions. Unity does not mean uniformity.

Presiding Bishop Michael Curry is absolutely right – “We are part of the Jesus Movement, and the cause of God’s love in this world can never stop and will never be defeated.”

The Holy Spirit is, as ever, on the move. For more than 40 years on issues of human sexuality, The Episcopal Church has worked to respond faithfully to the work of the Spirit in the context of where we live and move and have our being. We will continue to do so.